#SewingLeftovers Winslow Culottes, Burda Top, and When Gift Sewing Goes Wrong...

  

This outfit is another #sewingleftovers project I made while recovering from my sprained ankle. This blog post also contains thoughts on gift sewing and the pros and cons of being a medium size - settle in for the ride! Late last year I made a pair of grey crepe full-length Winslow Culottes for a friend’s birthday, based on measurements she’d emailed over to me. Being fitted at the waist but otherwise loose and drapey enough to not require serious fitting I thought this would be OK, and forged ahead and made them up, leaving only the hem to do after getting her to try them on next time I saw her.

I had been in the habit of buying a pattern specifically for the person I'm making the garment for (rather than using something tried and tested from my stash) and making their gift as the first run with the pattern, but this time I decided to make myself a pair using black crepe in the midi length so that I had a good understanding of how the pattern came together and would hopefully produce a better garment for the final product for my friend.

While this was a great idea, what I’d done was to cut the printed pattern full size and simply fold in the sizes to cut my slightly smaller measurements, which meant when I was cutting for her garment I accidentally cut a back leg in the width for my size (I’d managed to fold back out all the shaped parts, but as the legs on the Winslows are straight lines I’d overlooked it).

I was so frustrated and had to order yet more crepe to recut the mistaken leg, and then when my friend tried the almost finished culottes on they ended being significantly too large in the waist – the only part that really needed to fit! I managed to rescue them by removing and reducing the length of the waistband and folding the box pleats a little deeper in even increments all around to match the new measurements, but never managed to get quite such a neat finish on the zip insertion the second time around.

All this backstory is to say I had the back legs in my size cut out for the Winslows, so decided that I might as well make them up, as when there are no fitting snags it is a fairly easy project with lots of straight lines that hopefully my left foot would be able to handle without issues. I didn’t want to be too matchy-matchy with my friend so decided to make the knee-length version as a more summery garment (which means I still have a bit of this grey crepe stuff kicking around!).

This came together pretty quickly and without issue, except I managed to attach the zip a hair too close to the teeth which makes zipping up and unzipping a bit of struggle when it comes together over the waist. I’ve been pairing it with my gingham #sewingleftovers Roberts top, which gives it a bit of a summer school uniform vibe. Hopefully not in too creepy a way!

I don’t love this crepe if I’m honest – I was sewing to a deadline for the gift garment (which obviously got thrown out of the window with the fitting issues) so had ordered online from Minerva crafts thinking this "luxury crepe" stuff might be similar in feel to the crepe rio I made my SewOver It Cigarette Pants from – but sadly it’s a bit more shiny and static-y than that and isn’t what I would have chosen if I’d had the time to go shopping in person. The black crepe I made my own Winslows from is the same stuff in a different colourway and again it’s OK but I don’t love it – which is a shame as it wasn’t cheap!

I recently read Sewrendipity’s blog on sewing for other people and I think I have to declare myself done with unselfish sewing for a while – last Winter I ended up with such a backlog of projects that didn’t go smoothly or ended up needing more work for one reason or another, and I ended up not enjoying myself and feeling dissatisfied with the final product. If you stack up the cost of patterns, fabric, notions, hours spent getting supplies and then actually making the thing it's genuinely mad not to just pop to the shop and get a readymade whatever like everyone else! So for the sake of my sanity I'm parking handmade gifts for the foreseeable. 

I decided to make this top (Burda 08/2017 Top 112) up with the leftovers from a disappointing Maison Victor Solange dress which I've made but not had the heart to photograph yet, as it makes me look like a sack of potatoes!  I cut this out after cutting all the pieces for the Solange and whipped it up after that was made, using the overlocker and twin needle for the sleeves and hem. I made this up very quickly and only skipped adding batting to the neck roll (as I didn’t have any) and it’s worked out pretty well for stripe-matching, although I think I missed a notch somewhere to help me align the sleeves. These are basically positioned at right angles to a rectangle of fabric, so very easy to sew but worth making sure you have the notches to ensure they’re positioned correctly.

I had to take quite a bit of length out of the sleeves for the pattern pieces to fit (and roughly match) on the fabric I had remaining, but I think it looks pretty decent. I quite like a half or ¾ sleeve and this often seems to happen to me – it did with my Hemlock tee and actually in the end both tops are quite similar.

This Burda top ended up being a lot more oversized and boxy than I’d realised! I don’t mind it despite it turning out a bit bigger than expected, and having a slightly too wide neckline that exposes a little bra strappage. If I were to make it again I’d size down. I made it in a straight size 44, which puts me right in the middle of Burda sizes and means I can make up the plus designs too. Nice to have the run of the magazine!

I was reading ‘I Sew Therefore I Am’ and her review of the Rachel Comey Vogue dress and how frustrating it is to be in between sizes for the Big 4, and I totally empathise. I find it very strange the way they divide the sizes with no overlap, as presumably the majority of women are in the middle section so it would make more sense to have another sizing range that gives you more options in the middle rather than having to place yourself as ‘large’ or ‘small’. Sizing generally is a bit weird in that sense – there are so many shades of ‘small’ and ‘large’ but only ever one ‘medium’. I’d call myself a medium size (and often find myself labelled as such in sizing charts) but it is weird when sometimes your measurements stick you on one side or other of that – it’s such a fine line between medium and small, and medium and large!

If you've stuck with me this far, thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on sizing and sewing for others?

NorseOtter xx